THE BATTLE OF WALLIS ISLAND
(Check out Chris Reed’s The Ballad of Wallis Island movie review, it’s in theaters now via Focus Features. Join the conversation with HtN on our Letterboxd Page.)
An adaptation of a 2007 short film from the same creative team (director, writers/co-stars), James Griffiths’ The Ballad of Wallis Island is a disarmingly sweet meditation on loss, grief, and healing. Set on an isolated isle somewhere off the United Kingdom’s mainland coast, the movie primarily follows the misadventures of Charles (Tim Key, Wicked Little Letters) and Herb (Tom Basden, Venice at Dawn), the former a lonely former lottery winner and the latter an aging musician who used to be part of a famous duo. Carey Mulligan (Maestro) and Sian Clifford (Young Woman and the Sea), among others, round out the cast.
When Herb McGwyer—once a member of the folk-rock success McGwyer Mortimer—arrives on Wallis Island by tiny motorboat, he quickly finds that what he was expecting is not the same as the truth on the ground. Invited by local resident Charles Heath to give a private concert to a group of superfans, he is a bit put out by the gloomy surroundings and the lack of transportation to the hotel (which turns out to be Charles’ house). It doesn’t help that he falls into the sea right away. Still, the money is good: 500,000 GBP. That will pay for a lot of inconvenience.
Or will it? Charles proves an anxious, clingy host, never leaving Herb alone and cracking awful, punny jokes every other second in a behavioral pattern not unlike one of actor Ricky Gervais’ stock characters (though without the meanness). On top of that, Herb begins to suspect that there will be no other concert attendees beyond Charles. And then, even worse, Herb finds out that the entire affair is a pretext to reunite him with former partner Nell Mortimer (Mulligan). Given that the two were lovers whose relationship ended on a sour note, this is not good news.
But slowly, out of the bitter (but very funny) awkwardness of everything, Herb begins to confront his life choices. OK, very slowly, but still, there’s a glimmer of growth here and there. Charles can be supremely annoying, but he’s a widower whose financial good fortune does very little to mend a broken heart, and that seeps through even to Herb. Before reaching a genuine epiphany, however, Herb must first confront demons past and present, courtesy of Nell and her new husband, Michael (Akemnji Ndifornyen, Catherine Called Birdy).
The movie is shot well, with beautiful scenery apparently gathered together from various Welsh locations (simulating an island that does not in real life exist). The writing and acting are both strong, though the women—including Amanda (Clifford), a potential love interest for the heartbroken Charles—are more vessels for the men’s character development than fully realized human beings themselves. The music, written and sung by Basden (with occasional vocal assists from Mulligan), properly evokes folk rock while also serving as appropriately moody soundtrack material. Laughter and real tears mix beautifully together in what becomes, by its end, a moving testament to love and friendship.
– Christopher Llewellyn Reed (@ChrisReedFilm)
Focus Features; James Griffiths; The Ballad of Wallis Island
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